Instruction Manual for reading ' Lolita '

The novel by Vladimir Nabokov, a classic of the twentieth century, returns to the center of controversy in times of MeToo

11 Mart 2018 Pazar 05:00 - 74 reads.

Let Vladimir Nabokov speak: "Lolita is not a perverse child. It is a poor girl who corrupt (...) And it is very interesting to consider, as you do journalists, problem of foolish degradation that character of nínfula that I invented in 1955 has suffered among general public. Not only wickedness of poor creature was grotesquely exaggerated but physical aspect, age, everything was modified by illustrations in foreign publications (...). They represent a young woman of opulent outlines, as was said before, with blond hair, imagined by idiots who never read book. " In 1975, during an interview with Bernard Pivot in program Apostrophesal that came with written answers and a teapot with whisky, Nabokov apostatized of Lolita exalted for more than a decade for cinema and magazines. The version of Stanley Kubrick released in 1962, with Sue Lyon of protagonist, was implanted in universal imaginary as a prototype of perverse teenager capable of maddening an adult, far from original Nabokov, who insisted on that interview: "Outside Mr. Humbert's maniac look re's no nínfula. That is an essential aspect of a singular book that has been distorted by contrived popularity. "

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More than six decades after its publication, Lolita continues to speak. Although reasons are or. The writer Laura Freixas, in an article in this newspaper on February 21, attacked novel: It is written in such a way that it manages to make us forget that it is wrong to rape girls. In a debate held days later in country, he added: "It has been interpreted very widely in a way that justifies violence by saying it is a love story." Freixas insisted that his defense of creative freedom does not exempt author from some ethical responsibility.

Enlarge photo cover of an English edition of ' Lolita '.

"Art has an extraterritoriality in field of morality, which is won by Pulse with quality," says José-Carlos Mainer, professor of literature at University of Zaragoza, contrary to politically correct permeates readings on Creation. "I am afraid it will be very difficult for history of literature, of art, to resist combined assault of morality. It happened with Savonarola, who at one point was about to charge Renaissance in Florence, but it is terrible to happen again when we have a historical experience of what happened, "he reflects.

Lolita was legendary since beginning of time. Its first version was published in a French pornographic publishing house, Obelisk Press. The four American editors that Nabokov sent copies rejected text. According to novelist, he played one of three taboo mes for a publisher in United States. The ors: interracial marriages between black and white and happy lives of long-lived aists. An editorial adviser saw in it Old World that perverts new one and anor to young America perverting to old Europe. Until it came into hands of Georges Weindenfeld who, encouraged by Graham Greene, bought rights in Britain.

Italian edition of ' Lolita '.

In book a trade of Madmen (Ivorypress), editor entrusts to journalist Juan Cruz who mapped out a strategy to manufacture a favorable climate to publication. There was almost a minicrisis in British cabinet: a sub-committee had to decide wher to persecute or imprison publisher or authorize Lolita's circulation. "We printed book and sent three copies," recalled Weindenfeld. They attached a letter: "If you really think it's pornography against looks of se experts who say it's quality literature, I'm willing to stop publishing." Finally, by three votes in favor and two against, text saw light.

Then dilemma resided in transgression of a still-narrow sexual morality, that of late fifties, into a Puritan society. Today debate has shifted towards vocation of work: History of Love or history of pedophilia and sexual abuse. "No author is responsible for interpretation that is made of his works. The myths are built by circumstances beyond author, "defended writer Sergio del Molino in debate with Laura Freixas. And in an article he wrote: "Lolita talks about depravity, perversion, decay, wickedness, loneliness and America, among many or things." It's not an apology for rape, he insisted, but if it were, you wouldn't have to burn it at stake.

Dutch edition of ' Lolita '.

Nor does psychoanalyst and writer Lola López Mondéjar support artistic obstacles, although " creator must be known to be subjected to critique of his contemporaries." In 2016 it published every night, every night (Siruela), where it fictions life of Dolores Schiller, daughter of Lolita. In his opinion, Nabokov's work is " brilliant and justifiable narrative that a pedophile performs about his inability to resist attraction he experiences for girls." She distigue between book and her readings: "The reception of Lolita bypassed abuse, forgot false prologue that opens novel and had to orient his reading and rejoiced with desire of Humbert, elaborating a myth that responds to hidden eroticism of many men."

No one ventures what Vladimir Nabokov would say today. It could be a clue what he wrote in 1956 at end of book: "I am not a reader or author of didactic novels and, despite what John Ray says [false Prologuista], Lolita lacks moralizing claims. For me, a work of fiction only exists to extent that it gives me what I will call, plain and simple, aestic pleasure. "

From ' pin-up ' to string toy

The look of every age is on covers of Lolita. Anagram has just given an iconographic turn with drawing of Korean Henn Kim, who breaks with image of teenage apprentice femme fatale, to present her as a young girl manipulated, a toy to give rope, "a redesign that converse with new Generations of readers, "says Silvia Sesé, director of Anagrama.

The label founded by Jorge Herralde for first time published work in 1986 in a translation by Enrique Pezzoni — signed as Enrique Tejedor — without fragments censored by Argentinean dictatorship. In 2003, a new translation of Francesc Roca recovered original. Anagrama estimates that work has sold more than 200,000 copies in Spain.